metre

• meter

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmiːtə/

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmiːtəɹ/, [ˈmiːɾɚ]

  • Audio (US)

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• Hyphenation: me‧tre
• Rhymes: -iːtə(ɹ)

From French mètre, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”). Doublet of meter, metron, and mether.

metre (plural metres)

1. The basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International d'Unités), equal to the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299 792 458 seconds. The metre is equal to 39+⁴⁷⁄₁₂₇ (approximately 39.37) imperial inches.
   • 1797, The Monthly magazine and British register, number 3:

     The measures of length above the metre are ten times ... greater than the metre.

   • 1873 April, The Young Englishwoman:

     A dress length of 8 metres of the best quality costs 58 francs.

   • 1928 April 15, The Observer:

     The 12-metre yachts ... can be sailed efficiently with four paid hands.

• The spelling metre is used by both the International Bureau of Weights and Measures and the International Organization for Standardization in their English-language texts, and is used in all English-speaking countries other than the US. The spelling used in the US is meter—for instance, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology and the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual use meter.

• m

(Metric scale)

• Tok Pisin: mita
• → Burmese: မီတာ (mita)
• → Chinese: 米突 (mǐtū, mǐtú)
• → Japanese: メーター (mētā)
• → Korean: 미터 (miteo) (South Korea), 메터 (meteo) (North Korea, China)
• → Maori: mita
• → Swahili: mita
• → Yoruba: mítà

• Appendix on SI Units

“metre”, in Collins English Dictionary.

• SI prefixes
• International Bureau of Weights and Measures

metre (third-person singular simple present metres, present participle metring, simple past and past participle metred)

1. (UK, rare) Alternative spelling of meter

The standard spelling of the verb meaning to measure is meter throughout the English-speaking world. The use of the spelling metre for this sense (outside music and poetry) is possibly a misspelling.

From Old English, from Latin metrum, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”).

metre (countable and uncountable, plural metres)

1. (UK, Canada) The rhythm or measure in verse and musical composition.

   Synonym: musical time

metre (third-person singular simple present metres, present participle metring, simple past and past participle metred)

1. (poetry, music) To put into metrical form.

• metronome
• metric
• Wikipedia article: metre (poetry)

• -meter, -treme, Emert, meter, remet, retem

Borrowed from French mètre.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈmɛ.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈme.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ˈme.tɾe]

metre m (plural metres)

1. metre/meter (unit of measure, 100 cm)
2. (poetry, music) metre/meter (the rhythm of a song or poem)

• metratge

Inherited from Old Catalan metre, from Latin mittere. Compare Occitan metre, French mettre, Spanish meter.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈmɛ.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈmə.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ˈme.tɾe]

metre (first-person singular present meto, first-person singular preterite metí, past participle mes); root stress: (Central) /ɛ/; (Valencian) /e/; (Balearic) /ə/

1. (transitive, archaic) to put, to place

   Synonym: posar

2. (transitive, archaic) to set

• “metre” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “metre”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “metre” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “metre” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Old Occitan metre, from Latin mittere, present active infinitive of mittō. Attested from the 12th century.[1]

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metre

1. (transitive) to put, to place

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

• mesa

From Latin mittere.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmetɾə/

metre

1. to put, to place
   • 1260–1267, Brunetto Latini, “Cist premiers livres parole de la naissance de toutes choses [This first book talks about the birth of all things]” (chapter 1), Livre I - Premiere partie, in Livres dou Tresor [Book of Treasures]; republished as Polycarpe Chabaille, compiler, Li livres dou tresor par Brunetto Latini‎, Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1863, page 1:

     si come li sires qui vuet en petit leu amasser choses de grandisme vaillance […] por acroistre son pooir […] i met il les plus chieres choses et les plus precieux joiaus que il puet, selonc sa bone entencion, tout autressi est li cors de cest livre compilez de sapience

     Just like the lord, who wishes to accumulate very valuable things in a tiny place […] in order to increase his power, […] puts there—according to his good intention—the dearest things and the most precious jewels he can, so the body of this book is filled with knowledge

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

• Middle French: mettre, mectre, metre
  • French: mettre
• Norman: maette (Guernsey), mettre (Jersey)

From Ottoman Turkish متره (metre), from French mètre.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmetɾe/

metre (definite accusative metreyi, plural metreler)

1. metre, meter (unit of measure, 100 cm)
2. rule, folding rule